Palaeontologists unearth oldest-ever dinosaur nest

A team of palaeontologists investigating a dig site in South
Africa have excavated what appears to be a 190-million-year-old
dinosaur nest.

The researchers, led by Robert
Reisz and David
Evans, found several clusters of eggs and teeny
tiny dinosaur footprints preserved in sedimentary rocks
dating from the early Jurassic period. The clusters contained up to
34 six- to seven-centimetre diameter eggs, some containing embryos,
arranged carefully into organised patterns by their six-metre
longMassospondylus mother.

The differing sizes of footprints found at the site showed that
the baby dinos remained in the nest until they were approximately
double the size they were at birth. The distribution of the nests
also indicates that the dinos returned year after year to the same
site, assembling in groups to lay their eggs.

"The eggs, embryos, and nests come from the rocks of a
nearly vertical road cut only 25 metres long," said Reisz. "Even
so, we found ten nests, suggesting that there are a lot more in the
cliff, still covered by tons of rock. We predict that many more
nests will be eroded out in time as natural weathering processes
continue."

Evans added: "This amazing series of 190 million
year old nests gives us the first detailed look at dinosaur
reproduction early in their evolutionary history, and documents the
antiquity of nesting strategies that are only known much later in
the dinosaur record."

A study detailing
the discovery was published in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences.